Today I cleaned and washed and re-greased and lubed up the LHT. Having gone out for a few days in monsoon on wet roads for about 50 kms I thought today is the day to do it. One should clean the wheels and lube the chain every weekend I guess.
Realised I had forgotten almost everything :-) First taking off the front wheel. I had forgotten how to disengage the brake. In my Merida Red Roadie there is a lever that you just release and the brakes become loose enough to take the wheel out. Here one has to unhook the brake cable from the caliper. Providentially enough, I remembered it suddenly while looking intently at the wheel, hand on chin. The rear wheel, always a pain, came off relatively easily.
I had also quite forgotten which way to wrench to get the pedals off. Referred to ParkTools video and got that. I had written it all down. But then I realised it was too full of unnecessary details. So wrote the basic steps as an appendage to that write up.
I noticed that the kickstand clamp has stripped the paint from the frame a bit. The exposed part is black in colour. I am not sure if this is of any worry. I had taken the kickstand and the rack off for cleaning. I asked the Surly forum on facebook and they say this is called ED (electro deposition). It is a kind of primer and the steel is not yet exposed. So it is okay. I would prefer not to mollycoddle the bike. It is not a museum piece. It is meant to be ridden.
While degreasing and lubing up the chain Monisha managed to dislodge the chain from the sprocket with one hack. I don't know how she managed to do it. All I told her was to rotate the pedal back while I held the chain scrubber with one hand and a rag with the other. I got a little nervous but managed to put it back after hanging it from the Kushuda stand.
Yet to put the Tubus back because it has yet to be washed and it is 8 pm now. I plan to go out tomorrow for a ride to New Town.
July 20, 2020
Today I went for another round of very deep cleaning, particularly of the chain, cassettes and the chain rings because last time the job wasn't good enough. The three important parts of the drive train were made sparkling clean this time. Today I didn't go to work, having suffered from a bout of very low pressure yesterday. So decided to spend the day well, giving some TLC to the bike. There was a lot of mud on the body. Feeling very good after the clean. The previous clean wasn't deep enough. I loaded the bike up on the Kushuda stand and lubed it. Kushuda stand works well if there is no rear rack/carrier.
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